With the 2025 Oscar nominations introduced and awards season underway, it is a good time to look again at Academy Awards historical past. As Hollywood prepares for its greatest evening, the Oscars will honor distinctive filmmaking, persevering with an almost century-old custom.
A persistent debate is whether or not the Academy of Movement Image Arts & Sciences ought to create a separate class for stunt work. Given the exceptional feats seen in among the greatest motion films, akin to Mission: Inconceivable, John Wick, and Mad Max: Fury Highway, many argue, like Jason Statham, who’s a significant advocate for stunt performers, that stunt coordinators and performers deserve recognition alongside cinematographers, editors, and visible results artists.
Whereas we are able to travel about whether or not stunts ought to get their very own Oscar class, what’s much more stunning is that over time, the Academy has really eliminated a number of classes that used to exist. A few of them make sense—Silent Movie-era awards that grew to become out of date—however others go away you questioning why they ever obtained the axe within the first place.
Listed here are among the most fascinating Academy Awards classes that have been as soon as a part of Oscar historical past however have since been left previously.
Academy Juvenile Award (1935–1960)
Earlier than youngster stars with tons of charisma like Anna Paquin (The Piano) or Tatum O’Neal (Paper Moon) gained aggressive Oscars, there was a completely separate award devoted to recognizing children actors. The Academy Juvenile Award was an honorary award given to excellent performances by younger actors deemed too younger to compete within the common performing classes.
The very first recipient? Shirley Temple obtained the award in 1935 at simply six years outdated. Different well-known winners embrace Judy Garland (The Wizard of Oz), Mickey Rooney, and Hayley Mills.
Whereas it was a good way to focus on younger expertise, the Academy finally phased it out in 1960, leaving youngster actors to compete in opposition to their grownup counterparts—one thing that hardly ever occurs as a result of sheer competitors and business politics.
Finest Engineering Results (1928)
Lengthy earlier than Finest Visible Impacts grew to become a staple of the Oscars, the Academy acknowledged technical wizardry with the short-lived Finest Engineering Results class. Created in 1928 for the very first Academy Awards, it was meant to honor groundbreaking technical achievements in filmmaking.
The one and solely winner of the class? Wings (1927), the primary movie to ever win Finest Image–in a lengthy record of Finest Image winners. The film’s beautiful aerial fight sequences have been revolutionary for the time and set the usual for struggle movies to return.
After that, the Academy determined to merge the concept of recognizing technical improvements into the Scientific and Technical Awards, that are given out in a separate ceremony immediately.
Finest Title Writing (1929)
This one is unquestionably a product of its time. Through the period of among the greatest silent films, the one technique to convey dialogue and exposition was by means of title playing cards—these interstitial screens with written textual content. The Academy determined to honor the artwork of crafting these playing cards with the Finest Title Writing class on the very first Oscars in 1929.
The primary and solely winner was Joseph W. Farnham, who wrote title playing cards for a number of movies that yr. However as soon as talkies took over, title playing cards grew to become out of date, and the class was dropped completely.
Think about if it had advanced into one thing like Finest Subtitles or Closed Captioning—now that will be an attention-grabbing modern-day equal.
Finest Distinctive and Inventive Image (1929)
The very first Academy Awards featured two Finest Image classes: Excellent Image (which grew to become the Finest Image class we all know immediately) and Finest Distinctive and Inventive Image, which was meant to honor movies that have been significantly revolutionary or visually putting.
Dawn: A Tune of Two People (1927), a silent movie by F.W. Murnau, was the primary–and also you guessed it–the one winner of the award. The flick stays some of the visually breathtaking movies ever made.
The concept was scrapped after the primary yr in favor of a single Finest Image class, however some have argued that it might have advanced into one thing like a Finest Cinematic Innovation award, which might have honored visually daring movies like one of many greatest sci-fi movies of all time, 2001: A Area Odyssey, or Mad Max: Fury Highway.
Finest Dance Path (1935–1937)
For those who’ve ever been wowed by the frilly dance numbers in basic Hollywood musicals, you may be shocked to study that there was as soon as an Oscar class particularly for choreographers.
From 1935 to 1937, Finest Dance Path acknowledged choreographers who created excellent musical numbers in Hollywood movies. Busby Berkeley, the legendary choreographer behind kaleidoscopic dance sequences in Gold Diggers of 1935 and Footlight Parade, was a significant presence within the class.
Nonetheless, after solely three years, the Academy folded choreography into the broader Finest Unique Tune and Finest Musical Rating classes, although choreography itself wasn’t being honored. With the resurgence of musicals like La La Land and West Aspect Story in previous years, and with Depraved being a important and monetary hit just lately, some argue that bringing again a Finest Choreography Oscar wouldn’t be such a nasty thought. Hey, can we make some modifications in time for the upcoming Depraved: For Good because it approaches its 2025 film launch?
Finest Unique Story (1928–1956)
Immediately, now we have Finest Unique Screenplay and Finest Tailored Screenplay, however again within the day, there was a separate class known as Finest Unique Story.
This award was given to the author who got here up with the concept for a movie, even when they didn’t write the precise screenplay. For instance, Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett gained for The Misplaced Weekend (1945) regardless of Wilder additionally profitable Finest Screenplay for a similar film.
The Academy finally realized that it didn’t make sense to separate “authentic story” from “screenplay,” in order that they merged the classes into Finest Unique Screenplay in 1957.
Finest Assistant Director (1933–1937)
Hollywood productions skyrocketed within the Thirties, and directing a movie—particularly a large-scale manufacturing—was turning into more and more large. Enter Finest Assistant Director, an Oscar awarded to acknowledge the laborious work of second-unit and assistant administrators.
This class lasted from 1933 to 1937, throughout which a number of assistant administrators would win in a single yr. Nonetheless, as filmmaking grew to become extra streamlined, the class was phased out, although many assistant administrators immediately would most likely like to see it make a return.
Finest Sound Enhancing and Finest Sound Mixing (1963–2019)
For years, the Oscars handed out two separate sound awards: Finest Sound Enhancing (which acknowledged the creation of sound results) and Finest Sound Mixing (which honored how all audio components have been blended collectively in post-production).
Nonetheless, in 2020, the Academy mixed these right into a single Finest Sound class. Whereas it was meant to simplify issues, some business professionals really feel that it was a loss, as the 2 disciplines are distinctly totally different.
Might Some Classes Make a Comeback Or Be Added
The Academy has advanced so much over time, dropping and including classes as filmmaking has modified. As an illustration, simply final yr, the Academy introduced a brand new class (the primary addition since 2001) for Finest Achievement in Casting, which is about to take impact throughout the 98th Academy Awards, i.e. the 2026 ceremony overlaying the 2025 movies. Whereas a few of these classes make sense as relics of their time (Finest Title Writing, for instance), others (Finest Choreography, Finest Sound Mixing, Finest Unique Story) would possibly even have a case for making a return.
In the meantime, the talk over stunt performers getting their very own class rages on. Suppose the Academy can acknowledge make-up artists, sound editors, and visible results supervisors. Why not the unbelievable folks placing their our bodies on the road for a few of Hollywood’s most thrilling moments? It is sensible to me.
As we glance towards the way forward for the Oscars, possibly it is time to not simply think about new classes but in addition revisit some outdated ones that also have benefit. The 97th Academy Awards premiere Sunday, March 2 7E / 4P which shall be televised LIVE on ABC and might be streamed for these with a Hulu subscription.